Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.80.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CFG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Friday, August 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $9,323,623.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,415,046,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $661,052,000 after acquiring an additional 32,264 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953,372 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $355,909,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,081,725 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $296,824,000 after purchasing an additional 678,601 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $67.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.19. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $47.96 and a 1 year high of $75.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Bank, the company provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, investment banking, capital markets services and wealth management.